Man is held in shooting of boy

Cops: Suspect also attacked father, uncle of 6-year-old

A reputed gang member who has the words "Lord Forgive My Sins" tattooed on his back was ordered held without bail Monday on charges he shot a 6-year-old boy during a home invasion last week.

The suspect, Karl Smith, 30, forced his way into a West Side apartment with two masked men days after a dispute over money, a prosecutor said at the bond hearing. Smith, who allegedly did not cover his face with a mask, was charged Sunday with home invasion, aggravated battery of a child and aggravated battery with a firearm.

Assistant State's Atty. Emily Stevens said Smith knew the boy's father and uncle, but their friendship ended about a week before the shooting when the family suspected that Smith had stolen about $700 cash from them.

After forcing their way into the apartment in the 4000 block of West Division Street on Friday, Smith, nicknamed "Twin," and the two masked men duct-taped the arms and legs of the boy's father, Stevens said. Smith shot the father in the right shoulder and choked him until he was unconscious, she said.

The victim's 23-year-old brother, who entered the living room after hearing the commotion, was pistol-whipped in the head but managed to escape through a window and call police, Stevens said. When the boy's father awoke, his son was bleeding from his head, the victim of a gunshot wound, she said.

About $4,600 was missing from an open safe, and police later recovered "bloody money" from Smith's home, Stevens said. Police said that Smith was bleeding from cuts on his nose, around his mouth and on his knuckles when he was arrested at his home in the 4600 block of North Harding Avenue.

The boy remains in critical condition at Mt. Sinai Hospital and has not regained consciousness, Stevens said. The bullet went through the child's skull and exited about two inches above his left ear, she said.

Court records show the father was also stabbed.

No arrest warrants have been issued for the two masked men who assisted in the home invasion, she said.